2 aussies, an irish and a canadian walked in2a bar

• Lovin_apples's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Brugge

Trip Start May 23, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Ongoing Next
Entry

  Brugge, West Flanders, Belgium
Saturday, September 27, 2008

mood: happy, open

Bruges - well i am impressed! This quaint little medievil Belgian town is absolutely gorgeous. Locals peddaling the cobblestone streets with puppies in the baskets on their handlebars, stone bridges arching over long and winding canals, trees with green and red and orange leaves, brick houses covered in grape and ivory vines... is that picture painted enough for you? Even saying all that, its hard to explain the stzle and picturesqueness of this european version of paradise.

As Bruge is only a halfway point on a travelling day with Busabout, I had the afternoon to explore the town. My first stop was the supermarket where besides other things, I purchased what i believed was milk. It had all the typical features of a milk carton - white liquid, name sounded like milk, there was grass which links in with the cow theme - sadly i was very mistaken

Bruge canal

. This so called 'milk' drink tasted like watery dirt. In fact, i firmly believe it was a cost cutting exercise employed by the manufacturers where they simply mush up grass and use the juice. Eliminates the whole cow thing altogether! However it was made, it was promptly put straight into the bin. Yuk. Funny story.

I spent a couple of hours wandering around the town, checking out the buildings, churches, towers, shopping streets etc. I visited the 'church of the holy blood' which funnily enough, has what they claim is a small vial of Jesus' blood. It sits in a locked metal and glass cannister attached to a chain around a minister/chaplain/nun's neck so noone can steal it. They sit at the top of a podium to one side of the church, you make a small donation, climb the stairs, and you can place your hands on top of it and pray etc. Im not religious but i went up and had a look, it was just a tube of dried blood. I havent really decided if i believe its real or not yet.

Making my dinner in the hostel kitchen I started chatting to Rick and Allana, an aussie couple from Perth, soon after joined by a South African (who i cant remember his name) and another guy from Perth, Michael. Me and Michael joined some other people from the hostel for a free walking tour through the town at night, where we heard some history of the area and took in some very nice sights

Bruges famous tower

. Back in the olden-days Bruges used to be a shipping port until the canals silted up and the town was abandoned. It kept its medievil look as it was never a target during the wars and consequently is now one of the only medievil towns left in Europe. It is now of course very touristy, with horsedrawn carriages etc. The tour took us through the town and out to the main canals where re-created windmills line the banks. We also saw the oldest pub (from 1512). This place claims to serve over 400 types of beer - insane!!! Belgium is renowned for its many types - I saw one store which had them lined up in glass cabinets. If i was a beer drinker i wouldnt even know where to start!

It was happy hour back in the hostel bar so after a quick stopoff to have a snack of frites (chips and mayo - not actually a french invention but a belgian one! Though the french still claim them as their own) we headed back to the bar. They only sell beer there, so i was forced to give in to my one loathe! Luckily for me Belgium likes to experiment with different flavours, I had a raspberry beer and it was actually really nice. I dont know how close it actually comes to resembling beer, but i have found my one drink and happily felt like a beer drinker for the night! Michael and myself hung out at the bar with 2 other guys that we had met - an irishman called Martin and a Canadian called Mike. It sounded like a bad joke (hence the title of this entry!) but we all ended up having a really good night together and by the end i was ready to abandon all the crap out of my bag just so i could put Martin and his cute little irish accent in there and carry him around the world with me! It was such a random night, the bar closed at around midnight and we all went for a walk into town to see if we could find something interesting to do. Halfway there we befriended 3 local Belgian guys who were on their way home from the pub, but we convinced them to come out with us and we ended up out the front of this bar for a couple of hours while the boys drowned themselves with beer and we chatted with these frat boys - laughing our heads off

buildings

. Belgians are incredibly multilingual - as they have 3 national languages - french, german and flemish, plus their own local dialects, plus their near perfect english. I really really like the Belgium people. They are so friendly, and what makes them different from the french or spanish or italians is that they want to learn the languages. They dont speak with the same accent as other countries do. I am really impressed. These people are incredibly smart.

The guys that we met were only going to come out for one more beer, but when we left at 2am they were still going hard! It was one of the guys 21st birthdays and even though they all had classes in the morning I can understand why they were still out. Anyway, it was a really cool night out. You never know what to expect!

Yesterday I hired a bike and decided that i wanted to ride to Holland. Just cause it sounded cool to say 'yeah i totally rode all the way to Holland today.´ I had the most amazing day, the ride took me out through the countryside along one of the canals. The weather was absolutely perfect - clear skies with only a breath of wind. The birds were singing, the cows were mooing, the leaves were gently floating down from the trees, there were even rabbits by the side of the path munching on dandelions

Church of the holy blood

! It was so beautiful and peaceful. There were hardly any cars, so it was only the sounds of nature around me.  It was really lovely to be by myself, I love doing things with other people but in this setting it was exactly what i needed.At the end of the trail into Holland there was a gorgeous lilly pond where i stopped to take some photos, then rode around the little town of Sluis - with its cute little stone houses with orange tiled roofs and country lanes.

I was ready to ride further so i planned out a route that would take me to the ocean and then loop around back to Bruge. All up it was around a 50km ride, the beach was okay but nothing like down south, and the rest of the ride back was nice but alot busier and not as scenic as the first part of my journey. I could have ridden the trail to and from Holland forever. It was just beautiful.

If you want to see where i rode (I know my mum will want to) it was: Brugge, Damme, Sluis, Knokke-Heist, Zeebrugge, and then back to Brugge.

My dinner was of my typical new favourite food of greek yougurt and muesli. I sat in the bar and chatted with the guy from South Africa for a while which was interesting, he was nice but they are strange people and there hasnt been one that i have met that i have got along with well. I met up with Michael and we had a couple of beers in the bar, then went into town to find some waffles and then one of the bars that claim to sell all the different types of beer. We stopped at the shop of this lovely gorgeous hilarious old lady who made us probably the best waffles that i willl ever eat in my whole entire life!

interesting shops

They were to die for. They make them fresh from dough, and i had mine covered in fresh strawberries and vanilla icecream, and dusted with icing suger. If there is one thing i will ever come back here for, it will be to get some more waffles! I was ready to take the lady home, the poor thing she works 7 days a week (its her own shop) from around 10am till late, hardly ever goes on holidays. Me and Michael were almost ready to jump over the counter and help her we felt so sorry for her!

We ended up at a bar full of locals called Brugs Beertje (translation: Bruges Beer) who have over 300 kinds. It was another cool old pub with memorabilia covering the walls, as well as beer mugs, bottles and coasters. I tried a passionfruit beer which again was very good!

This morning (6am my time) was the AFL grand final back home but there was no-where to watch it so i had to wait until breakfast at 8am to check the scores. I couldnt even find anywhere to stream it live from and the bar didnt have the satalite channel that we needed so i had to sit on the internet and just watch the scores. I was so shattered as i havent been able to watch any footy for so long!

I have spent the morning hanging out with Michael, Rick and Allana in the bar, we just got back from a mission to to find this fries shop that Rick and Allana have been maddly raving about, we were so hyped up that these were going to be the best fries we have ever tasted, but when we got there they were closed!!! We are just waiting now for the bus to pick us up and take us to our new destination... AMSTERDAM! Party time!

If anyone is interested there is a movie out at the moment called 'In Bruge' with Colin Farrel, this is funnily enough set in Bruges, its a pretty good movie (we got to see it on the bus one day) and you get to see what the town is actually like. check it out!

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

some of the tourist traps on sale	canals of Brugge	a wall of Belgium beer - all for sale	hotel on one of the canals
view of cathedral tower	canals	windmill at dusk	Brugge at dusk
oldest pub in town - 1512	canals at night	Brugge at night	Brugge at night
Out with the random Belgiums	trail along canal to Holland	me on the trail	misty morning on the canals
trail to Holland	arriving into Sluis	me and the lake	Sluis
beach at Knokke-Heist	26-1	riding back to Brugge

Slideshow Print this entry Share Brugge hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry